Official Language Committee

• The Official Language Committee, headed by the Union Home Minister, was set up to review and promote the use of Hindi language in official communication, as mandated by Article 351 of the Indian Constitution. It was constituted in 1976 under Section 4 of The Official Languages Act, 1963 The first report of the Committee was submitted in 1987.
• The essence of the Official Languages Act, 1963, is to provide something to each of the differing groups to meet its objections and safeguard its position. Whenever the parties in the State see any attempt to disturb this status quo, their reaction is always uniform — a virulent opposition.

Recommendations

• The committee recommended using Hindi as a medium of instruction in IITs, IIMs and central universities in Hindi-speaking states.
• High Courts in non-Hindi speaking states, where proceedings are recorded in English or a regional language, must make translations available in Hindi since they are often cited in judgements.
• Government officials and other employees in the central government not using Hindi in Hindi-speaking states will face consequences in the Annual Performance Assessment Report (APAR).
• If imposed, these rules will be applicable only in states where Hindi is the official language.
• States like Tamil Nadu and Kerala are exempted under The Official Languages Act, 1963 and the Rules and Regulations (of the Act), 1976.
• According to the rules, Hindi is official language in A category states, which include Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, and the UTs of Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Category B states, where Hindi is used less than 65 per cent, include Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Punjab, and the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
• Category C states are those where the use of Hindi is less than 65 per cent.
• The Committee suggests fully using Hindi as a medium of communication in A category states, while other states can use regional languages.
• Its ultimate aim is to minimize the usage of the English language in official communication and increase the usage of Hindi.

Government’s Effort to Promote Hindi and Other Regional Language

• Three-Language Formula (Kothari Commision 1968)
  • First language: It will be the mother tongueor regional language.
  • Second language:In Hindi speaking states, it will be other modern Indian languages or English. In non-Hindi speaking states, it will be Hindi or English.
  • Third Language: In Hindi speaking states, it will beEnglish or a modern Indian In the non-Hindi speaking state, it will be English or a modern Indian language.
• The newNational Education Policy (NEP) in 2020 too had attempts to “promote Hindi, Sanskrit” and regional languages. The NEP says that mother tongue or the regional language would be the “preferred” mode of instruction until Class 5, and possibly Class 8.
  • NEP 2020 it was decided to push for the three-language formula, to promote multilingualism and national unity.

Position of Hindi in India with respect to other Regional Languages

• As per, 2011 Linguistic census:there are 121 mother tongues in India.
  • 8 crores individuals or 43.6% population declared Hindi as its mother tongue and 11% of the population reported Hindi as their second language.
    • So, 55% of the population knows Hindi as either as mother tongue or as their second language.
  • Bengali 9.72 crore individual and 8% population, as 2nd most spoken language in India.
  • The share of the languages like Bengali, Malayalam and Urdu has declined but Hindi and Punjabi speakers have increased.
  • Between 1971 to 2011 the speakers of Hindi multiplied by the 2.6 times from 20.2 Crore to 52.8 crores.

Constitutional Status of Hindi

• Schedule 8of the Indian Constitution has 22 Official Languages, including Hindi as well.
• Article 351states that, it is the duty of the Union to encourage the spread of the Hindi language to make it lingua franca (a shared language of communication used by people who are speakers of different languages) in India without interfering with its genius, style and expressions.
• Article 348 (2)provides that the Governor of the State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of the Hindi language or any other language used for any official purpose of the State, in the proceedings of the High Court having its principal seat in that State provided that decrees, judgments or orders passed by such High Courts shall be in English.
• As per Article 343(1)of the Constitution of India, Hindi in Devanagari script shall be the official language of the Union.
• TheOfficial Language Act, 1963 provides under Section 7 that the use of Hindi or official language of a State in addition to the English language may be authorized, with the consent of the President of India, by the Governor of the State for the purpose of judgments, decrees etc. made by the High Court for that State.